1. University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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US Fish & Wildlife Publications US Fish & Wildlife Service
1-1-1974
Polypodium Sp. (Coelenterata) Found in North
American Sturgeon
Glenn L. Hoffman
US Fish and Wildlife Service
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Hoffman, Glenn L., "Polypodium Sp. (Coelenterata) Found in North American Sturgeon" (1974). US Fish & Wildlife Publications.
Paper 110.
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2. 548 THEJOURNAL PARASITOLOGY, 60, NO. 3, JUNE1974
OF VOL.
746) from a margay, Felis weidii, in southern
0 Colombia seems to be close to P. amazonicus.
However, final identification needs more de-
tailed investigation of the Colombian fluke.
The present flukes are quite different from
those reported by Miyazaki, Arellano, and
Grados (1972, Jap. J. Parasit. 21: 168-172)
from a Peruvian male residing near Tingo
Maria. But, it is likely that P. amazonicus has
some possibility of human infection, because
people in Tingo Maria occasionally eat the
i 1 mm
crab, Pseudothelphusa chilensis, which is sus-
FIGURE 3. Detail of ovary (0), left testis pected to be the host of the present fluke.
(LT), and right testis (RT) of Fig. 1 under the A whole mount specimen (Fig. 2 of this
same magnification. Dorsal view. Anterior end note) has been deposited in the USNM Hel-
at top. Asterisk means obscure portion.
minthological Collection (No. 72901).
agreed with the holotype of P. amazonicus Ichiro Miyazaki,* Department of Parasitology,
obtained from the four-eyed opossum, except
Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka,
that their body was more slender than the Japan, Cesar Mazabel, Universidad Nacional
holotype. The eggs were slightly larger than Agraria de la Selva, Tingo Maria, Peru, and Oscar
those of the holotype which averaged 90 by Grados, Instituto de Salud Publica, Institutos
48 v (ratio 1.87:1), but the ratio was exactly Nacionales de Salud, Lima, Peru. *Supported in
part by Research Contract DAJB17-72-C-0191, U.
the same in both cases. The lung fluke re- S. Army Research and Development Group (Far
ported by Little (1968, J. Parasit. 54: 738- East).
PolypodiumSp. (Coelenterata)Foundin NorthAmericanSturgeon
On 27 May 1970, Mason Shouder, Michigan served eggs from a ripe sturgeon from the same
Fisheries Biologist, discovered some abnormal locality; only one of 1,391 eggs (0.07%) was
eggs in a ripe sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens. found infected.
The fish were taken from the Black River The abnormal eggs contain the mature
near Cheboygan, Michigan, which is bar- stolon stage of Polypodium sp. (Fig. 2). The
ricaded from Lake Huron by a dam built in stolon is a white elongate structure, 1.3 mm
the 1920's. Normal ripe eggs were black in diameter, and has many fingerlike tentacles
spheres; the abnormal ones were enlarged and 0.87 to 1.2 mm long by 0.17 to 0.087 mm
grayish (Fig. 1). About 20% of the eggs were diameter. No intact stolons were available for
affected and attached to the wall of the length measurement.
uterus in saclike structures. The ovary was Polypodium hydriforme Ussov, 1885 (Figs.
also abnormal, being flaccid. In May 1973, a 3-5) has been reported from Acipenser spp.
single infected egg was found in vodka-pre- from some of the major rivers of the USSR
FIGURES 1, 2. A coelenterate parasite of sturgeon eggs from Michigan. 1. Enlarged gray eggs on
the right contain mature stolons of Polypodium sp. Normal black eggs are on the left. 2. Eggs infected
with Polypodium sp. Egg at lower left is still intact; egg at upper right has been torn to release
fragments of the parasite.
FIGURES 4. Polypodiumhydriformefrom Russian Acipenser ruthenus (Raikova, 1958, Zool. Zhural
3,
37: 345-358). 3. Sterlet eggs. Enlarged gray ones contain stolons. 4. Mature stolon.
4. 550 THEJOURNAL PARASITOLOGY, 60, NO. 3, JUNE1974
OF VOL.
FIGURE5. Life cycle of Soviet Polypodium hydriforme. Roman numerals represent months. (a)
Mature stolon with internal tentacles from egg before spawning. (b) Stolon with external ten-
tacles emerging from egg at time of spawning. (c) Free stolon. (d-i) Stolon becomes polyp which
may divide; route back to fish is unknown. (j-k) Early embryonic stages in egg. (l-n) Juvenile
stolons. (o) Stolon with internal tentacles. (Modified from Raikova, 1958, Zool. Zhural 37: 345-358.)
(Raikova, in Bykhovskaya-Pavlovskaya et al., Polypodium sp. If more material becomes
1962, Key to Parasites of Freshwater Fish of available, species determination will be at-
the USSR., Zool. Inst., Acad. Sci. USSR; Eng. tempted. With the current price of caviar
transl. No. TT64-11040, O.T.S., U. S. Dept. $100/lb this may be a very important fish
Commerce, Washington, D. C., 1964, 919 p.). parasite. We would appreciate receiving ad-
It has also been reported from the Danube ditional material.
River in Rumania [Bogatu, 1961, Un car de
infesatie cu Polypodium hydriforme Ussov, G. L. Hoffman, Eastern Fish Disease Laboratory,
1885, la cega (Acipenser ruthenus G) din Kearneysville, West Virginia 25430; E. V. Rai-
Danare. Bull. Inst. Cercetari Si proiectari kova, Inst. Cytol., Acad. Sci., Leningrad, USSR;
and W. G. Yoder, Michigan Department of Nat-
piscicola 20 (11): 54-59]. ural Resources, Grayling Research Station, Gray-
This is the first North American record of ling, Michigan 49738
BranchedSchistosoma mansoni Daughter Sporocysts
Fourteen to 17 days after infection of (method of DiConza and Hansen, 1973, J.
Biomphalaria glabrata with miracidia of Schis- Parasit. 59: 211-212). Over a period of 2
tosoma mansoni, mother sporocysts were dis- years pools of several hundred such daughter
sected to release young daughter sporocysts sporocysts often contained a few branched
